• by Erik Oster , July 26, 2023

Coca-Cola shared some good news with investors with the release of its Q2 earnings report, raising its anticipated outlook for the full year on the strength of a quarter which saw the company increase net revenue by 6%, to around $12 billion. The company’s reporting exceeded analyst expectations for the quarter, and its 2023 outlook. Following the news, Coca-Cola’s stock price was up 1.29% on the day to $63.05, as of market close.

The company reported earnings-per-share (EPS) growth of 34%, to $0.59, and organic revenue growth of 11%.

Barclays cited the company’s organic revenue growth, which exceeded its expectations by 2%, as a particular highlight of the report, along with better-than-anticipated operating margins, and strong performance in North America, Latin America and Global Ventures,

Coca-Cola updated its projected organic revenue growth for 2023 with the report, anticipating 8% to 9% organic revenue growth for the year in full -- which compares favorably with analyst consensus outlook of 8.2%, according to Barclays, as well as Barclays’ own 8.6% projection. Coca-Cola’s projections include an anticipated 3% to 4% currency headwind, as well as a 1% headwind from “acquisitions, divestitures and structural changes.” It anticipates EPS growth on the year of 9% to 11%.

In a statement, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey cited the strength of the company’s performance in the first half of the year and “the resiliency of our business” in giving the company the confidence to raise its 2023 guidance, while touting local efficiency and global flexibility as strengths.

”We’re expecting…a similar sort of growth rate in the second half [as the first]. We think the momentum is there,” Murphy said in response to a question on an investor relations call. “We think in developing markets we got through [pricing adjustments] that we needed to … The uncertainty factors are concentrated around a few more inflationary marketplaces.”

He also stressed that while there was room for growth with Coca-Cola’s premium offerings, there was also a need to maintain a focus on providing more affordable options -- particularly in such markets.

“We need to keep an anchor and continue to evolve and adapt our strategies on affordability,” he said, citing refillables and affordable small packs as two ways the company has been addressing affordability.

The company provided a series of updates along with the results, including reporting an unspecified value share increase in the total nonalcoholic ready-to-drink (NARTD) beverages space. It also cited the company’s ongoing “marketing and innovation transformation” of its brand portfolio (which included a shakeup of its agency roster), referencing a series of awards Coca-Cola won at last month’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Its report stressed that the same approach of  “innovative products, refreshed designs and consumer-centric marketing” was “being applied throughout the total beverage portfolio.”